University of Economics, Prague Faculty of Business Administration
Master's thesis evaluation by the opponent
Title of the Master's thesis:
Author of the Master's thesis:
Objectives of the Master's thesis:
Criteria (max. 10 points per category) Points awarded
1. The objectives of the thesis are evident and accomplished 5
2. Demands on the acquisition of additional knowledge or skills 8
3. Adequacy and the way of the methods used 5
4. Depth and relevance of the analysis in relation to objectives 5
5. Making use of literature/other resources, citing 5
6. The thesis is a well-organised logical whole 6
7. Linguistic and terminological level 7
8. Formal layout and requirements, extent 6
9. Originality, i.e. it is produced by the student 7
10. Practical/theoretical relevance/applicability 6
Total score in points (max 100) 60
Final grading Good (3)
Overall evaluation and questions to be answered in the course of the defense:
Name of the Master's thesis opponent:
Occupation of the Master's thesis opponent:
Aleš Kubíček, PhD.
Prague University of Economics and Business
I honestly declare that I am not in any allied relationship with the author of this Master's thesis.
Succession Planning and Talent Development in Family Business
Mel Loetscher
To analyze family businesses and their approach to succession. Which factors contribute to a family business surviving it beyond the third generation.
E V A L U A T I O N O F T H E M A S T E R ' S T H E S I S
The aim of the thesis is quite ambitious and unnecessarily broad. It is no coincidence that succession is still the most researched topic of family businesses. There are too many aspects to include and adequately consider in one study. The theoretical part is not coherent; the author jumps from one concept (or even worse, a list of terms) to another without proper commentary. The result is a shallow literature review, where the reader gets lost relatively fast. Half of the whole thesis is devoted to theory and review, which should not be the case for a master's thesis. The practical part tries to use mixed research methods, which results in methodological shortcomings. The quantitative part is purely descriptive. We get to know nothing about sampling. The questions are formulated suggestively (e.g. Does Succession Planning Contribute to Longevity - who would answer no?), so even using some statistical tests such as t-test would be meaningless. The qualitative part is much better in comparison. However, due to the vast diversity of the interviewees (culture, industry, firm size, firm age, same-vs cross-gender succession), the sample is way too small to achieve theoretical saturation. There is no proper conclusion as the author promised to identify factors that contribute to a family business surviving beyond the third generation. The future research proposed by the author only underlines how difficult it is to grasp the topic. The author used an excessive amount of non-peer reviewed resources. Question: 1) Could you find any limitations of your study? 2) With the aim to help family firms to survive beyond third generation, could you explain which aspects of succession planning and talent development are going to totally dominate the whole process?
May 25, 2021
Signature of the Master's thesis opponent
